Immunity
Volume 52, Issue 1, 14 January 2020, Pages 183-199.e9
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Immune Landscape of Viral- and Carcinogen-Driven Head and Neck Cancer

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.immuni.2019.11.014Get rights and content
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Highlights

  • Single-cell RNA-seq revealed distinct immune profiles in HPV and HPV+ HNSCC

  • B cells, myeloid cells, and CD4+ Tconv cells were divergent by high-dimensional analysis

  • Multispectral imaging uncovered immune structures (TLSs) associated with HPV+ disease

  • T follicular helper signature was associated with favorable survival in TCGA patients

Summary

Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) arises through exposure to environmental carcinogens or malignant transformation by human papillomavirus (HPV). Here, we assessed the transcriptional profiles of 131,224 single cells from peripheral and intra-tumoral immune populations from patients with HPV and HPV+ HNSCC and healthy donors. Immune cells within tumors of HPV and HPV+ HNSCC displayed a spectrum of transcriptional signatures, with helper CD4+ T cells and B cells being relatively divergent and CD8+ T cells and CD4+ regulatory T cells being relatively similar. Transcriptional results were contextualized through multispectral immunofluorescence analyses and evaluating putative cell-cell communication based on spatial proximity. These analyses defined a gene expression signature associated with CD4+ T follicular helper cells that is associated with longer progression-free survival in HNSCC patients. The datasets and analytical approaches herein provide a resource for the further study of the impact of immune cells on viral- and carcinogen-induced cancers.

Keywords

head and neck cancer
viral-induced cancer
mutagen-driven cancer
single-cell RNAseq
transcriptomics
cancer immunology
immunotherapy
tertiary lymphoid structures
multispectral immunofluorescence MC

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